Thirteen McDonald's outlets the past two weeks across Australia had been using the fastfood chain's Aussie nickname, Macca's, to celebrate Australia Day. They will temporarily use that name until Feb 3.

Mark Lollback, chief marketing officer of McDonald's in Australia, said the renaming of the 13 branches to Macca's is to show Australians that the U.S.-based fastfood giant is proud to be part of the Australian community.

McDonald's or Macca's is popular among Australians despite talks of burgers in Britain containing horse meat, while fastfoods are being blamed by health experts for rising obesity rates across western nations due to the use of fat. To address the concern over the use of horse meat, McDonald's Australia even launched an iOS app which allows iPhone owners to check the source of the ingredients used by Macca's.

However, in a bid to become known for more healthier options, Macca's in some drive-through stores and shopping centres on the Gold Coast is selling two-litre bottles of milk. A local McDonald's franchisee even plans to include bread. The full cream milk or light milk under the brand Norco sells for $3.50.

Besides the convenience that McDonald's offers to people in a hurry, the continued popularity of Macca's is also due to the fastfood giant tapping major celebrities for its adverts or using extremely attractive ads.